Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York
restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce, hard-living years trying to find
purpose and meaning in her life. Above all she sought family, particularly the
thrill and the magnificence of the one from her childhood that, in her adult
years, eluded her. Hamilton’s ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in
her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than
one hundred friends and neighbors. The smells of spit-roasted lamb, apple wood
smoke, and rosemary garlic marinade became as necessary to her as her own skin.

Blood, Bones & Butter follows
an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited
through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother
stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of
France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and
learned the essence of hospitality; the soulless catering factories that helped
pay the rent; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected
challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link
between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family, the result of a
difficult and prickly marriage that nonetheless yields rich and lasting
dividends.

Download and start listening now!

BK_RAND_002539

Quotes & Awards

“Hamilton unexpectedly started up her no-nonsense, comfort-food Prune in a charming space in the East Village in 1999. Hamilton can be refreshingly thorny (especially when it comes to her reluctance to embrace the ‘foodie’ world), yet she is also as frank and unpretentious as her menu-and speaks openly about marrying an Italian man (despite being a lesbian), mostly to cook with his priceless Old World mother in Italy.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Add this to the shelf of chef memoirs but also recommend it to readers with a penchant for forthright, well-written memoirs in general.”

Booklist

“Read this book and prepare to clean your system of all that’s come before. It’s a game-changer and a truly great work by a great writer and great chef.”

Anthony Bourdain

“Gabrielle Hamilton has changed the potential and raised the bar for all books about eating and cooking. Her nearly rabid love for all real food experience and her completely vulnerable, unprotected yet pure point of view unveils itself in both truth and inspiration. I will read this book to my children and then burn all the books I have written for pretending to be anything even close to this. After that I will apply for the dishwasher job at Prune to learn from my new queen.”

Mario Batali

I have long considered Gabrielle Hamilton a writer in cook’s clothing, and this deliciously complex and intriguing memoir proves the point. Her candor, courage, and craft make for a wonderful read but, even more, for an appreciation of her talent and dedication, which have resulted from her often trying but inspiring experiences. Her writing is every bit as delectable and satisfying as her food.Mimi Sheraton, food critic and author of The German Cookbook and Eating My Words

[A] lusty, rollicking, engaging-from-page-one memoir of the chef-owner of Prune restaurant in New York’s East Village. Hamilton opened her eating establishment without any prior experience in cheffing, but the life experiences she did have before that bold move, told here in honest detail, obviously made up for any deficiencies in heading up a restaurant and also provide material for an electric story that is interesting even if the author hadn’t become the chef-owner of a successful restaurant. An idyllic childhood turned sour when her parents divorced; her adolescence and young womanhood encompassed drugs, menial jobs, and lack of direction and initiative when it came to continued education. All’s well that ends well, however, and her story does indeed do that. Add this to the shelf of chef memoirs but also recommend it to readers with a penchant for forthright, well-written memoirs in general.Booklist

Magnificent. Simply the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever. Gabrielle Hamilton packs more heart, soul, and pure power into one beautifully crafted page than I’ve accomplished in my entire writing career. Blood, Bones & Butter is the work of an uncompromising chef and a prodigiously talented writer. I am choked with envy.Anthony Bourdain

Gabrielle Hamilton has changed the potential and raised the bar for all books about eating and cooking. Her nearly rabid love for all real food experience and her completely vulnerable, unprotected yet pure point of view unveils itself in both truth and inspiration. I will read this book to my children and then burn all the books I have written for pretending to be anything even close to this. After that I will apply for the dishwasher job at Prune to learn from my new queen.Mario Batali

A 2011 Publishers Weekly Best Book for Nonfiction

One of the 2011 Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books for Nonfiction

A 2011 BookPage Best Book for Nonfiction

Winner of the 2012 Indies Choice Book Award for Nonfiction

A 2011 New York Times Book Review Notable Book

A USA Today Bestseller

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, March 2011

Selected for the March 2011 Indie Next List

Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award

Nominated for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award

One of the 2011 Newsday’s Favorite Books of the Year

A 2011 Huffington Post Best Book for Nonfiction

A 2011 Financial Times Best Book of the Year for Nonfiction

A 2011 Slate Magazine Best Book for Nonfiction

A 2011 Washington Examiner Best Book of the Year for Nonfiction

A New York Times Bestseller

Listener Opinions

Jane O'keeffe | 2/10/2014

" Good memoir. I know the title tried to tie in both Hamilton's path top becoming a chef and her personal life but the transitions between cooking and personal life were clunky and left me with many questions. "

Bianca | 2/9/2014

" I feel bad giving this book a rating. How do you rate someone's memoir? I enjoyed reading the book however. And it made me really, really hungry for some really good food :O) "

Doreen Callahan | 1/29/2014

" If you are a foodie and have worked in the food industry this is the best book ever. "

Tom | 1/29/2014

" Really great read. Hamilton is a gifted storyteller and really helps the reader experience her story. The challenges of being abandoned by her parents, years of struggling in kitchens (being a chef is not all glamorous), and finally of being a mother and wife and her struggle to feel part of a family. Given her years in 80s NYC and her balance of food as a creative outlet, it felt like I was reading Patti Smith mixed with Anthony Bourdain. Highly recommend. "

Sandy | 1/27/2014

" Not great, not awful. The author was very unlikeable by the end. "

Adriennej | 1/20/2014

" Loved this book! Highly recommend it for anyone who loves food... "

Jen | 1/16/2014

" I like this less the more I read. "

Stevie | 10/28/2013

" I found the first two-thirds of this absorbing, but she kind of lost me with the Butter section. I wasn't all that interested in how she and her husband were incompatible, and far preferred her reflections on how her unusual upbringing (or lack thereof) influenced her career and cooking style. "

Jane Dmochowski | 10/1/2013

" I really enjoyed this book. Gabrielle, in my estimation, is clearly a narcissistic and deeply flawed person, but she definitely knows how to write and cook! "

Carley Cianciolo | 9/29/2013

" I can't put this book down. Beautifully written memoir about being a chef and running her own restaurant in New York. "

Maggie | 7/14/2013

" Excellent. Great story and very well written. Reminded me a lot of Mary Karr's memoir "Cherry." While it might not resonate as much with those who aren't in love with food and/or have worked in restaurants, I thoroughly enjoyed it "

Gill | 2/20/2013

" Really enjoyed this book in the beginning. but after 70-80% it went down in a negative spiral... "

Tama | 1/1/2013

" Great memoir! You'll want to cook and eat while you read this - Ms. Hamilton really has a way with words, wonderfully descriptive stye. She brings the smallest details to life in your mind, and makes you feel every nuance of emotion. Not jsut about food, but about life. "

Linnea Minnema | 10/24/2012

" Another whiny cook/author who complains about how difficult their lives have been. Not my favorite. "

Pam | 8/16/2012

" Very well written. Interesting, until the last part of the book that focused on her marriage and trips to Italy to visit his family. She leaves us hanging at the point where they will be returning to the States from Italy. "

" Good writing, but narcissistic narrator who was not likable. Really liked Blood section, but it set me up to be very confused as to why she disowned her mother for 20 years. Third section was almost unbearable. Whine, whine, whine. "

Katy | 12/21/2011

" I loved this book so much I hated to finish it. Now all I want to do is cook! "

Ally | 9/30/2011

" I had read the first chapter in the New Yorker and thought it was splendid, both as a culinary piece and as a memoir. The rest of the book turned out to be uneven. Loved heating about Prune, one of my favorite places; not interested in her bad marriage. "

Melanie | 5/22/2011

" This is a romp of a read. I loved it, it was real, gritty, smart and engaging the entire way through.
"

Barbara | 5/21/2011

" Okay, she's a more than a little cranky and self-centered, but this was a gorgeously written memoir about food, family and figuring out how to live in the world. Fun that she lived in Ann Arbor for graduate school and credits the chef/owner of Zanzibar as one of her mentors.
"

Corinna | 5/21/2011

" not a role model for my kids but fascinating how she evolved from wild child to chef.
"

Meredith | 5/19/2011

" I got this book from the library after a long wait, but didn't have a chance to finish it before it was due. It was a good fast read which I will pick up again soon.
"

siga | 5/17/2011

" i really enjoyed the book, the writing style and her kookie life. what a story. a female anthony bourdain and that is very refreshing.
"

Leighton | 5/16/2011

" I have read many memoirs by chefs who aspire to be writers. This is a memoir by a write who aspires to be a chef. An aspiration which she achieved as shown by her having won this years James Beard award
"

Mike | 5/16/2011

" Chefs' memoirs are always a great read, but this one is special. Every feeling is so honest and clear, and so much more than a cook's gushing description of their love affair with produce and meat. It's about wanting and yearning and trying to find the happy center. Loved it.
"

Bethany | 5/15/2011

" I finished this book while sitting in the car in the parking lot at work. It's the first time I have done that.

Gabrielle Hamilton has a great story to tell about her life and food. She tells it in a captivating way.
"

Joanne | 5/14/2011

" This was a very interesting and enjoyable read! Not only a great cook, but Hamilton is also a good author!!!!!!!! Culinary and Literary delights!
"

Megan | 5/14/2011

" Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but it didn't hold my interest for long.
"

Kate | 5/13/2011

" An amazing memoir of a chef/writer (could I be more jealous??). Wishing I was in NYC and could go and eat at Prune. Sigh.
"

About the Author

Gabrielle Hamilton is the chef/owner of Prune restaurant in New York’s East Village. She received an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan, and her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, Bon Appétit, Saveur, and Food & Wine. Hamilton has also authored the 8-week Chef Column in The New York Times, and her work has been anthologized in six volumes of Best Food Writing. She has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and the Food Network, among other television. She lives in Manhattan with her two sons.

[ShoppingCartItemsAddedOnMerge] audiobook(s) were left in your cart from a previous visit, and saved to your account for your convenience. You may view or remove these audiobooks on the shopping cart page.